Dr. Anthony Fauci scolded a reporter on Wednesday for asking if there was a “public health benefit” to allowing the Omicron variant to spread, saying that was a “really dangerous” suggestion.
The Omicron (B.1.1.529) SARS-CoV-2 variant was first reported to the World Health Organization by South Africa in late November, and designated as a “variant of concern” (VOC) by WHO two days later. President Joe Biden responded to the new variant in a press conference Monday, calling Omicron “a cause for concern, not a cause for panic.”
Earlier Wednesday, the CDC confirmed a report of the first Omicron case with an individual in California who had returned from South Africa in November. The individual was “fully vaccinated and had mild symptoms that are improving,” said the CDC in a statement.
In a press conference in the White House Press Briefing Room, Fauci addressed reporters on the latest pandemic developments, including the newly confirmed reports of an Omicron case in the U.S.
“We don’t have enough information right now” about the Omicron variant, said Fauci. The “molecular profile” of the mutations that characterized this variant “would suggest that it might be more transmissible and it might elude some of the protection of vaccines,” but “we don’t know that now.”
The potential “diminution in protection” was why he kept emphasizing “why it is so important
“If this proves more transmissible but less virulent than Delta, would there be any public health benefit to furthering its spread, by lifting travel restrictions, for example, so it can outcompete the Delta variant?” a reporter asked.
“You are talking about something really dangerous,” Fauci retorted. “You’re talking about, let a lot of people get infected to see if, in fact, you can protect them. That is something that all infectious disease people with any knowledge about infectious disease would not say, that’s a good idea.”
Watch the video above, via Fox News.